File for documents and the like

ABSTRACT

A file for documents and the like comprises a double envelope, obtained by folding a rectangular sheet of a thin but relatively rigid material such as cardboard along a folding line parallel to its short sides and located near the middle of the long sides and then folding the composite sheet along at least one additional folding line to provide a bottom. The free ends of the superimposed sheet parts are connected to a first suspension bar while a second suspension bar is introduced between the two sheets parts and adapted to bear against the first-mentioned fold thereof.

United States Patent 1191 Grundell 1 Dec. 18, 1973 1 1 FILE FOR DOCUMENTS AND THE LIKE [21] Appl. No.: 170,784

[52] US. Cl. 211/126, 40/359, 229/16 R,

312/184 [51] Int. Cl. A471 3/14 [58] Field of Search 211/126, 46, 162,

211/184, 50, 45, 132; 40/359, 16; 312/184; 229/30, 16 R, 16 D, 41 R, 6 R

2,678,651 5/1954 DeWhalley 211/162 3,298,374 l/1967 Grundell 312/184 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,925,459 11/1969 Germany 40/359 1,010,133 11/1965 Great Britain 312/184 Primary ExaminerRamon S. Britts Attorney-William C. Linton et a1.

[5 7'] ABSTRACT A file for documents and the like comprises a double envelope, obtained by folding a rectangular sheet of a thin but relatively rigid material such as cardboard along a folding line parallel to its short sides and located near the middle of the long sides and then folding the composite sheet along at least one additional folding line to provide a bottom. The free ends of the superimposed sheet parts are connected to a first suspension bar while a second suspension bar is introduced between the two sheets parts and adapted to bear against the first-mentioned fold thereof.

6 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENIEUBH: 18 1975 SHEET 1 OF 2 INVENTOR CRRL ERIK GRUNDELL WWM ATTORNEYS PATENTEUUEE 18 ms SHEET 2 [IF 2 I N VEN TOR CARL ERIK GRUNDELL BY /5 ATTORNEY FILE FOR DOCUMENTS AND THE LIKE This invention refers to a file for documents and the like and has for its main object to provide a file which may be manufactured at low costs and which offers the possibility of arranging partition sheets, adjustable labels and the like as well as pockets in the file sides for the purpose of storing papers or the like or for stiffening up said sides, the attachment of the suspension bars being extremely simple and efficient.

To obtain these and other advantages the file has the characteristics pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention will now be described more in detail, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. I is a partially broken perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a die closure unit in a partly folded position.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view, showing the side closure according to FIG. 2 during insertion in the file.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the file according to FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a partly broken perspective view of the bottom portion of the'file according to FIG. 1 but being only provided with a bottom inlay instead of the side closure unit.

FIG. 6 shows in perspective the upper portion of one file side, having attached to its rail a suspension strip.

FIG. 7 shows in perspective the upper portion of the other file side, having attached to its rail a combined label holder and suspension device.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of a file side with a side stop for one of the rails of the file and FIG. 9 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a file side and a rail attached thereto.

The file according to FIG. 1 comprises a folded member in the shape of a double envelope made of a relatively thin but rigid sheet material such as cardboard, plastic or the like. This folded member is generally designated 1 and is made of a rectangular sheet, which is folded along a first folding line 2, parallel to the short sides of the sheet and located near the middle of the long sides such that two superimposed sheet parts of approximately the same length are generated. This composite member is folded along parallel folding lines 3 and 4 to constitute a bottom portion and two file sides. The free ends of the sheet parts are formed to channelled end portions 5a, 5b having their open sides facing each other. The folded member thus comprises an inner pocket 6 and an outer pocket 7 with intermediate spaces 8. As will be clear from the following description this construction not only offers the possibility of making a stiff file from a thin material but also facilitates the attachment of one of the suspension bars or rails, generally designated 9 at the same time as the spaces 8 may be used for storing documents, insertion of inlays and the like.

The suspension bar 9, which is of a conventional design and has downwardly projecting side stops 10 is introduced between the two superimposed sheet parts such that it bears against the fold at 2. The other suspension bar 11 is preferably extruded from a transparent plastic material and has a T-shaped downwards open longitudinal groove 12 serving to receive the end portions 5a, 5b as well as the upper vertical side portions of the sheet parts as clearly shown in FIG. 1. The bar is thus secured to the file side by merely sliding the same over the upper portion of said file side.

When it is desired to provide the file with an end clo sure a separate closure unit according to FIG. 2 may be used. The illustrated closure unit is made from a single sheet and comprises a bottom part 16 the length of which exceeds the length of the file such that a projecting tongue 17 is generated. Stiffening parts 18a, 18b are integral with the bottom part and are intended to be folded along folding lines to form vertical sides as shown. Side parts 19a, 19b having also bottom parts 20a, 20b are connected to an end part 21 and by folding the parts as shown in FIG. 3 a box shaped unit having an extended bottom portion is generated. This unit may be connected to the file in a very easy manner by merely inserting the parts 19a, 19b, 16 18a, 18b between the sheet parts of the file sides with the bottom parts 20, l6, l7 resting upon the lower bottom of the file. As previously mentioned the tongue 17 projects outside the file when the unit 15 is fully inserted and by folding said tongue according to FIG. 4 the end closure is secured in its position without the need of any separate securing means.

The file just described has a bottom of a certain width. It is, however, possible to vary said width within broads limits. As appears from FIG. 5 the folded file member may have for instance three bottom folding lines 3, 4 and 22. If the file is folded along the central folding line 22 a very thin file suitable for the storage of a few documents is obtained. In this condition the file is also well suited for storage and transport. When it is necessary, however, to use the file for a greater number of documents the file is folded along folding lines 3 and 4 and by inserting between the upper and lower bottom of the file a relatively stiff strip 23 of a certain width a rigid bottom having the desired width may be obtained. When a plurality of such folding lines are arranged it is thus possible to obtain any desired width by merely introducing a strip of the desired width.

As appears from FIG. 6 and 8 the side stops of bar 1 l or 9 may consist of separate units received in corresponding openings in the bar. By inserting an end portion of a suspension strip 24 between or over the file end portions 5a, 5b before the bar I1 is slid over said portions also said suspension strip may be easily secured to the file. The suspension strip 24 may be provided with perforations 25 and folding lines 26 to obtain different means for holding articles such as documents.

The bar 9 may be easily secured to the file by providing in the latter spaced apart vertical slots 27a, 27b permitting the bar to be thread in the manner illustrated in FIG. 7. The part of the bar which is located intermediate these slots 27a, 27b, may be used to guide a holder 28 having a transparent hollow label receiving portion 29 as well as a suspension device 30, 31 for documents and the like.

The side stop 32 shown in FIG. 8 is provided with an attachment portion 33 held by friction in the hollow bar, and a projecting portion 34 forming the side stop. Additionally two resilient tongues 35a, 35b are arranged to hold the side stop unit secured to the folded file member by embracing its sheet parts.

An extremely simple and useful bar attachment construction is shown in FIG. 9. The bar 9 has downwardly projecting spaced apart lugs 36 each intended to project through a slot 37 provided in one sheet member of the folded file member. To remove the bar 9 it is /9,393 the dir ction e rrow in bar to said I d m ber V ttaehm nt of course t ke lace b in- 3. A file a1 claim 11 Id folded .V the bar and tiltin it in the 0 dir ction member is provide a pl ralit utu y parallel I claim: fold lines o nstitut a s me eslr d width, a A fil or d 1 176 '"P strip of a lative rigid ma al a ha g the dea folded membe ofa thin eIa vely stif sh material red e width g l m) uced be w 8 id shee and having thesh fa outer mne envelope par said St ha 8 the me width, anc provided by a Si rectangu ar sh et with fold line betwe n of S h old line extending parallel short des of sa d sheet and A He a Jaime Claim her an Closing located nea e middle oft long e ofsaids eet 0 u om n a b X sha e e ha one end to provide t o supe posed s eet p rts th free ends 8 p b h f h h open has its si s inserted l the p ce b can the a at w g e reee so send 6 cure t ereto sides fsaid two velop and its tom in a second tendin betw en said two sheet parts twee he pines of aid en opes and dapted t ag inst the to d bet en said w I I 1 sheets, at least on 1 said s parts be g pro d 1 A I e S c n c whe em 6 f with at least one through w ich a part of sai secclosmg ex ended to pro e ondr penetrates er byp eventinga plac mem which exten sou d the sp: es fs e velope said ofsaI-d bar a dir c awa 0m said [(1 port: n b mg fol ver a nderlyi g transverse o 2. A le as aimed in c aim h rein id first b the 0 er e 6 Op lock said rxtendm be nsaid tw sheet par has eas ne velope i ownwa y oectmg lug, the s1 t f id f ed 6. claimed claim wherein s ld first ba *r bei parallel o aid to line and ving length wh'ch 8 fold thread t T0118 rresp g to s (1 lug and being locat t a dis- Spaced P rt m in one E 1" extends Ce fr said fold me ich c rrespond to the erpen icular said t I u that o e part of said 'ht of aid first r su at said lug o atter first bar W111 b uated m ediate t e the pperp rtion hereof in ontact with said while anothe tuated penetrate a (1 s1 ther y said 4= esa 0 

1. A file for documents and the like and comprising a folded member of a thin relatively stiff sheet material and having the shape of an outer and inner envelope provided by a single rectangular sheet with a fold line extending parallel to the short sides of said sheet and located near the middle of the long sides of said sheet to provide two superimposed sheet parts with free ends, a bar having the free ends of said sheet secured thereto, a second bar extending between said two sheet parts and adapted to bear against the fold between said two sheets, at least one of said sheet parts being provided with at least one slot through which a part of said second rail penetrates thereby preventing a displacement of said bar in a direction away from said fold.
 2. A file as claimed in claim 1 wherein said first bar extending between said two sheet parts has at least one downwardly projecting lug, the slot of said folded member being parallel to said fold line and having a length corresponding to said lug and being located at a distance from said fold line which corresponds to the height of said first bar such that said lug of the latter while the upper portion thereof is in contact with said fold, penetrates through said slot thereby locking said bar to said folded member.
 3. A file as claimed in claim 1 wherein said folded member is provided with a plurality of mutually parallel fold lines for constituting a spine of desired width, a strip of a relatively rigid material and having the desired spine width being introduced between said sheet parts, said strip having the same width as the distance between two of such fold lines.
 4. A file as claimed in claim 1 wherein an end closing unit comprising a box-shaped member having one end open has its sides inserted in the space between the sides of said two envelopes and its bottom inserted between the spines of said envelopes.
 5. A file as claimed in claim 4 wherein the bottom of said end closing unit is extended to provide a portion which extends outside the spines of said envelopes, said portion being folded over an underlying transverse of the outer envelope to lock the closure unit in said envelopes.
 6. A file as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first bar which bears against said fold is threaded through spaced apart slots adapted in one envelope and extends perpendicular to said fold such that one part of said first bar will be situated intermediate the sheet parts while another part is situated outside the same. 